Mr HAWKER (6:40 PM) —Tonight I want to follow on from my adjournment speech of last Wednesday to table a petition that was taken up in my electorate, particularly around Warrnambool, raising serious concerns about changes proposed to Youth Allowance. Clearly the proposal is going to disadvantage a number of would-be students who have taken the gap year and are now going to find retrospectively that they are not going to qualify for Youth Allowance. This is causing enormous angst. Over 400 people turned up to a meeting in Warrnambool at fairly short notice. I have more than the 1,400 signatures on this petition. Unfortunately that list is a little long to meet the criteria of a petition, and that is why I seek leave to table it. But it is very important that this message be heard and that people understand that the retrospectivity, and the fact that the changes to Youth Allowance are going to work against many country students, is only going to cause further disadvantage, in country areas where already we know that the participation rate of students at tertiary level is lower than it is for those in city areas.

Leave granted.

Mr HAWKER —I thank the chamber. I hope that the message will be widely heard.